For the second time in just over a year, the state agency that investigates wrongdoing by judges has leveled misconduct charges against a new member of the state Supreme Court.

The Wisconsin Judicial Commission on Tuesday alleged that Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman violated the code of judicial conduct by paying for a "false" television ad against former Justice Louis Butler, whom Gableman unseated in April.

In a complaint filed with the high court, the commission said the ad's misrepresentation "was made knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth." If the Supreme Court finds merit in the complaint, Gableman would face one of four penalties: reprimand, censure, suspension or removal.

Darrin Schmitz, a Gableman campaign consultant, said in a statement that the complaint is baseless.

"The commission chose to ignore the plain language of the ad, which is factual," Schmitz said. "Instead, the complaint alleges that the ad contains false statements on the basis of inference and implication. The First Amendment does not allow a claim to be made on that basis."

Schmitz also said in the statement that the complaint is the result of "an apparent desire to advance a particular agenda," but he later declined to elaborate.

Gableman did not respond to a message left at his office.

Butler said, "At this point it's important to let the process work itself through."

Linda Honold, executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, which asked the judicial commission to investigate Gableman's ad, said the commission's decision Tuesday "is a good first step to restoring the tradition of civil Supreme Court elections where the public is able to decide based on legitimate facts, not distortions and misrepresentations."

The complaint against Gableman, who took office in August, follows a September 2007 complaint the judicial commission lodged against Justice Annette Ziegler, who won an election for an open seat earlier that year.

Then, the commission alleged that Ziegler had committed misconduct by presiding over cases in which she had a conflict of interest. She later apologized, and her colleagues on the state Supreme Court publicly reprimanded her — the first time the high court disciplined one of its own.

The Gableman complaint also comes amid a debate by the Government Accountability Board over whether and how to regulate thinly veiled campaign ads paid for by special interest groups such as the state's teacher's union and the state's largest business lobby. Spending by special interests on those so-called "issue ads" in the 2007 and 2008 Supreme Court races exceeded spending by the candidates, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

The ad under scrutiny cited Butler's work before the state Court of Appeals and Supreme Court as public defender for Reuben Lee Mitchell from 1985 to 1988. It suggested that Butler used a "loophole" to help Mitchell — in prison for raping an 11-year-old disabled girl — get released, and that Mitchell went on "to molest another child."

The complaint says the ad "directly implied and was intended to convey the message that action or conduct of Louis Butler enabled or resulted in Mitchell's release and Mitchell's subsequent commission of a criminal molestation. Each of these statements of fact constituting the message is false."

Rather, the complaint said, while Butler argued that the circuit court made a mistake in admitting certain evidence against Mitchell, the Supreme Court said the error did not deny Mitchell a fair trial.

As a result, Mitchell remained in prison until he was released on parole in 1992. Three years later he was convicted of second-degree sexual assault of a child, the second victim to which the ad refers, the complaint said.

"Louis Butler did not cause, facilitate, or enable Mitchell's release from prison and had no responsibility for or connection with Mitchell's subsequent commission of a crime," the complaint said.

The complaint said the ad violated the state judicial conduct code, which says candidates for judicial office "shall not knowingly, or with reckless disregard for the statement's truth or falsity, misrepresent the identity, qualifications, present position, or other fact concerning the candidate or an opponent."

The ad drew widespread condemnation at the time, in part because it showed Butler and Mitchell's faces side-by-side. Both are African-American.

After the ad began airing last March, 35 Wisconsin judges said in a statement that the ad "falsely implies that Mitchell was able to commit the second crime because Butler got Mitchell released from prison."

In a letter to the State Journal before the election, Dodge County District Attorney Steven Bauer, who prosecuted the Mitchell case, said the ad led him to rescind his endorsement of Gableman, who he said was "unfit for the Supreme Court."

A judicial conduct panel chosen by the state's chief appeals judge will review the complaint and file a report with possible recommendations to the state Supreme Court, which will then make a final determination.

WHAT'S NEXT

A judicial conduct panel, chosen by the chief court of appeals judge, will review allegations that Justice Michael Gableman violated the code of judicial conduct. The state Supreme Court will consider the panel's report and issue a final decision.

PORTION OF THE MICHAEL GABLEMAN AD AGAINST LOUIS BUTLER

"Louis Butler worked to put criminals on the street. Like Reuben Lee Mitchell, who raped an 11-year-old girl with learning disabilities. Butler found a loophole. Mitchell went on to molest another child. Can Wisconsin families feel safe with Louis Butler on the Supreme Court?"